It feels like it's been ages since I've written anything on this thing. Heck, it's been weeks since I've even turned on this laptop. How can I even remember where I left off... I better go to the site to check it out... please wait.
I know there's no time passing for you, but for me, this is taking forever. My new job is only aiding my low attention span as I'm constantly flipping gears for different projects. In finding my blog I'm doing a set up for FireFox, checking my computer's work for a partition I mean for windows 7 (ooh, it's probably done now, I should see what I can do for it now), and watching "Lady in the Water".
Okay, found it... I think what I'll do is work backwards in time... makes more sense when you'll read this anyways.
So most recently... today we got a crapload of snow. Almost as much as that time last year. This year, we have Mandy's nanny's snow blower, but there's always been a catch tho'. It just barely fit in the shed, so I've never used it, as to use it, it meant shovelling out all that area behind the shed, using the snow blower to get down the lane, down the side road, up the sidewalk and then use it for the little curb area, as we can't use it on the driveway due to the gravel. Well, I never bothered to use it previously because it just seemed a bigger hassle to use it than to just shovel.
Well, today it snowed alot and I figured it was time to give it a shot. Within minutes of my shovelling to the back shed, Greg was over. Which was good, as he knew how to get it working. After some playing with it, it eventually turned over. And, as you would have it, we found out that it would fit through the side door of the shed, and then the side lane gate as well... double bonus! So we got to play with the snow blower and it was really cool. It really did throw the gravel if it was on any, so when I was near the drive I had to be careful where I was aiming the chute.
What previously... well Dean's been getting bigger. He's really starting to crawl and furniture walk, and getting ready to just stand and walk. Awesome. Really cool to watch him turn into a person as he gets more and more of a personality. There are still some days that he wakes up in the middle of the night that frustrates me, but all part of being a dad.
New Years - we had some discussion and we decided eventually that we'd ship Dean off to the grandparents (the Knauffs; my parents still had my sister's kids all about - so they had their hands full)and we went to the Family Frolic at Old Fort William (I guess I should call it Fort William Historical Park as it is officially known). So, kidless, we went with Adam, Kelly, Kris and Greg. It wasn't too bad actually. We went on a sleigh ride (Adam's first ever), and to Bouche's Tavern to have some hot dogs. To get to there we had to go the round about way, and it is a bit of a distance from the Fort that people wondered where I was leading them, but eventually we got there. It was nice and secluded, apparently nobody else was going there. We enjoyed roasting the dogs over the fire. I just so can't wait until summer to go camping.
The night ended at 10pm with an amazing fireworks display. Really! It was something you wouldn't expect at New Years. As it turned out, we were watching the fireworks only a few feet away from Charm and Steve and the kids. Neat.
After getting home quickly we went to Kris and Greg's for some typical New Year's eve events: word games and Wii and even a round or 2 of "the Newlyweds". (We lost one game and tied another). Next thing you know, it's 5am and time to head home. The 'morning', we had agreed to go online and post our status on MSN so that we'd know who was awake and could call when we decided to go for breakfast. This time, the adventure breakfast was quite short as we went to Chicago Joe's.
We picked Dean up and headed to home and some minor holiday cleaning. Charm and Steve said they'd like to come over and we said that we needed to get ready and that we were heading out to a family dinner, so they could come over between 2 and 4... this meant they came over at 345 and stayed until 445... I'm so turning into my dad, as it agitated me some amount.
Dinner at Sandi's was good. The chicken was spectacular..., Dean however was less than enthused. He had only an hour nap and missed his 2nd nap of the day so when we went, he had only a few minutes of a nap which made him extra cranky. He ultimately made my decision to take him home early while Mandy stayed for another round of Family Feud.
Christmas was a great time. Dean didn't really get the whole opening gifts thing, but I think he really enjoyed all the family attention and the new play things. He really had a good haul this year. He enjoys all the gifts the family gave him, even the boxes they came in. It was great how he was excited and was ready to play, everytime we went to take a picture of him, he had this really sad and unenthused look on his face. I'll post pictures soon, but there's just one hilarious one where we put this cap on him that said "Noel 2008" and he was just so 'unimpressed' over it. Classic pic... hopefully not the sign of things to come from him.
The family get togethers and meals were just great... since leaving retail I really really enjoy the family stuff. Amanda and Iain are just getting to be big kids now... crazy how time marches on, especially when you aren't looking.
What else there to talk about? My new job is great. I had an amazing time at the Job Fair that the chamber of commerce put on. It was a "home for the holidays" and more idea... so I went around and talked to the employers about my role and program. Really in some ways my job is amazing. I get to network all day long essentially. I got my travel arrangements completed. Leaving in a few days to go to London and then Burlington. Too bad it's a too short a trip to do any travelling or visiting, but it'll be good to see how other centres work. Next trip (April for OCEA) I'll try to get some visiting in... maybe I'll even get to Henry's and trade in my camera... maybe. I did find a Treo 700w on eBay which I'll use for the job while I'm there. Kinda excited to test out some WinMo.
Oh, can't forget about the sleigh ride. Mandy and Kelly truly had a great idea this year. For a gift for the family they decided that they should host a sleigh ride. A chance for all the family to come out, enjoy a nice horse drawn sleigh ride, some hanging out in a chalet with hot chocolate, and some good food. Made shopping really easy. Too bad more people couldn't make it, but it was great. Greg and his brothers had some fun knocking each other off the ride... they had an amazing apple cider/drink ... and we did a nativitiy/activity where Dean got to be the baby Jesus. So much fun. It'll definitely become an annual event. Sue from Gammondale's did a great job of entertaining us all; would have been ideal if there were more kids, which I think she expected there was, but it was still a great night. Kelly has some video to work with and maybe I'll post links for that (I really should put more on my soapbox page).
Well, I think I've caught everything up. Going to go check on the Win7 installation... stoked to try it out! Reviews have been good... I can hear Dean waking up too... I should take him while Mandy gets dinner ready.
Hopefully it on't be another month before I write something on here.
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